But Am I?
by The Pyrotechnical Cat
Summary: Evan Daniels (aka Spyke) is confused and unsure of his sexuality, while Pietro is involved in a self conflict over the same subject. Will the boys' "sisters" find ways to help their loved ones through this conflict?
1. Chapter 1

"But Am I?" A fanfic by TPC ^..^ meerow!  
  
Section 1:  
Evan Daniels sat in the dark, dank tunnels of the sewers that he now called home. They could be the most homely place anyone could ever live in, or they could be the most miserable place anyone could ever live in. Most of the time, it was miserable. The other Morlocks were off somewhere planning some scheme or another to bring down Power8 production, or they were trying to figure out what to do about clean bathing water. Either way, Evan wasn't needed. So, he stayed behind. During this time alone, Evan would think about all those times at the Xavier Institute for Gifted Youngsters. His Auntie O and the others. Wolverine's brutal training sessions and the feeling that all of their hard work, sweat, and wasted hours had finally paid off when they had beaten the Brotherhood. The Brotherhood... Avalanche. Toad. Blob....And Quicksilver. His archrival. No, not a rival, but a nemesis. They were evenly matched, when Evan could catch him.  
Quicksilver, he thought.  
Evan would also wonder about the surface world and what things were like up there. It had been months since he left the sewers in daylight. He couldn't leave the sewers in daylight. At least...not anymore.  
His hand went towards his youthful and once pure face. He felt the bony protrusions and scowled. He could never go back to the surface. Ever. He was a mutant. Just like his fellow Morlocks. Just like the X-Men. Just like his Auntie O. Just like the Brotherhood. Just like...Pietro.  
Pietro, he thought.  
Evan threw a stone moodily against the wall opposite him. The sound of rock-on-concrete echoed through the long, twisting tunnels of underground New York.  
* pat pat pat *He wasn't alone.  
Evan stood up, lengthened his spikes, and readied himself to attack. Enemies, beware. The Spyke-Man is in battle-mode! , he thought. A silhouette of a young body appeared at the end of the tunnel.  
"Who are you and what are you doing here!?" Evan shouted at the shadow.  
The body approached even closer.  
A young, innocent voice spoke, "You can put down your spikes, Evan. It's only me."  
It was only Rebecca, or Stall, her codename. (okay, I know that those aren't her real names, but everyone else calls her Stall, so I am too. And I just made up Rebecca because I think she looks like a Rebecca.) Stall was the youngest mutant Evan has ever known. Not even 12, Rebecca could paralyze people with the touch of her over-sized hands.  
Evan retracted his spikes and reseated himself on the ground. Rebecca sat next to the human porcupine and asked him if he would help her braid her pigtails. How could he refuse? So, Evan helped Stall braid her hair in silence.  
Rebecca broke the awkward silence with a question, "Why did you throw that stone, Evan?"  
Evan paused for a moment, then continued to braid. She must have been there longer than he thought.  
"No reason," he replied.  
"It looked like you had a reason to me. You looked angry, almost," Stall said.  
Evan paused longer, though he did not continue to braid. "What makes you say that?" he said. He knew, they both knew. He was angry when he threw that rock. But, he wasn't about to admit that to Rebecca.  
"You were thinking about him again, weren't you?" Rebecca said.  
"Who?" Evan asked casually and went back to braiding.  
"That anorexic looking boy with the white hair that's really fast. Quicksilver, right?" Rebecca said.  
Evan was slightly bothered of the youngster's knowledge of his archenemy. How did she guess?  
"No. Why would I think about Pietro?" he asked, a bit nervously.  
"Don't lie to me. I know you were thinking about him again. I also know that you dream about him. You mutter his name in your sleep. I hear you. We all hear you. Don't lie to me, Evan." Stall said.  
Evan dropped the completed pigtail and began on the other section. He didn't want to admit it, but he knew it was true. He did dream about Pietro. But, the dreams were never good dreams. They usually involved a lot of bloodshed and battling. Pietro was always too fast to catch, no matter how hard he tried. Then, his Aunt would show up and slow him down so he could get in a good shot. But always before that happens, he wakes up and spoils the dream. It has never happened differently, unless you count that time when they were all in their underwear.  
Evan completed the second pigtail and finally answered the young mutant. "I won't lie to you then. I do dream about Pietro. We fight and nobody wins. I was thinking about him earlier. Thinking about how I should beat in his face. There, are you happy now?" He added that last line somewhat irritably.  
"Yes. I am. Now c'mon! We're going to go destroy the Power8 factor tonight!" She turned around and smiled playfully at Evan.  
That's what he wanted to hear. Evan returned her smile and rose to his feet. Stall hopped up onto his shoulders and they headed off to find the other Morlocks.  
Good. Something to take my mind off Mr. Anorexia, Evan thought with relief.  
  
Section 2:  
Pietro Maximoff lay stretched out on the living room couch, the stereo blaring some pop song that he didn't know the words to, while Toad tried to convince his twin sister to tango with him. Around the Brotherhood of Bayville Boarding House, it was exactly that, boring.  
"Yo! Pietro! Howz 'bout you? Wanna tango?" Toad asked him.  
"WhateverToad. Ihavebetterthingstodothandancethetangowithalivingstinkbomblikeyou. (Translation: Whatever Toad. I have better things to do than dance the tango with a living stink bomb like you.) (I think I'll only do this to the really long phrases, so don't get to comfy with 'um)  
"Like what? Lay there an' piss and moan 'bout you and Melissa breakin' up?" Toad now took up a pitiful expression and made his voice sound girly and whiney, "Oh, woe is me! The world's gonna stop spinnin' an' the sky shall fall cuz me an' Melissa broke up!" He did a fake swoon and collapsed on the floor.  
"ListenDramaQueen! Yabettershaddapifyaknowwhatsgoodforya!" (Listen Drama Queen! Ya better shaddap if ya know what's good for ya!) Pietro said huffily.  
"Well, don't throw a hissy fit on us now, Pietro," Lance said as he and Fred walked in, wiping the axle grease off their hands. " We all ready have one girl in this house, and her PMS mood swings are enough for us to handle."  
Toad and Fred laughed and Wanda scowled. Though, Alvers did speak the truth, Wanda was not about to admit to it. Pietro shared his sister's feelings about Lance's remark. He didn't like what Lance was implying by that statement.  
"Yeah, thank God it's only once-a-month!" Toad replied through a fit of sniggers.  
"OKAY! WE GET IT! NOW KNOCK IT OFF!!" Wanda yelled.  
The boys all silenced at once. They knew better than to mess with The Scarlet Witch, no matter what time of the month it was.  
Pietro was relived that they had stopped teasing his sister about her mood swings. Unfortunately for him, he was their next item of ridicule.  
"So Pietro, why did you two break up in the first place?" Fred asked.  
  
Pietro sat up and looked at Blob's face. He's still got that mustard dribble on his chin, Pietro commented silently. He didn't feel up to answering that question at the moment. Or any moment for that matter.  
"Yeah, Pietro. You neva told us why you did break up. What happened?" Toad asked.  
Pietro's gaze now fell on Todd. If I didn't answer before, what makes you think I'll answer now? He said to himself.  
"Idontfeellikeansweringyourquestionsrightnow," he said coolly. "Nowifyoullallexcuseme, I'llbeinmyroom."  
Pietro left the couch and headed towards his room. It isn't their business what happened. They don't need to know. They won't know, he thought as he climbed the rickety staircase. 


	2. Chapter 2

Section 3:  
"Phew! Whatta night! I'm beat," Evan said as he crashed on the stolen couch of the Morlocks' 'living area'. Really, it was an intersection between several different pipes. They could hear everything from there. So, the 'living area'.  
Stall came in, along with the other Morlocks. Stall tried to sit on the couch too, but Evan blocked her way. So, she sat on Evan instead. He didn't mind. Stall was very light for her age. All of them were. He had lost nearly 10 pounds since he joined the Morlocks. He didn't get nearly as much food here as he did at the institute. But, he has learned to adjust. When times get tough, the Spyke gets tougher, as he says. (how cheesy :P)  
Callista, the leader of the Morlocks said that it had been a long night and a job well done, and they all deserved a good rest. Evan normally slept on the couch. Callisto and everyone else had a makeshift bed of some- sort. Stall slept on pillows. Everyone else had a cot or something.  
But little Rebecca was too tired to make it to her bed. She fell asleep with her head on Evan's muscular chest. Not minding, Evan let her stay there. He thought of himself as her caretaker. He loved her almost like a sister. A new feeling, since he was an only child at his home. He began to stroke the long brown hair on her little head.  
He noticed how calm and innocent she seemed whilst sleeping. It's a very convincing mask she hides behind. Yes...mask....calm....ponies...  
Evan fell asleep stroking Rebecca's head.  
  
(Time to enter dream-mode!)  
  
-He was flying. Flying through the sewers so fast, faster than the speed of sound, faster than Pietro. He left the sewers in the daylight, but nobody saw him. He was too fast. He flew and flew. There was Bayville High and all of the students. Ha! Who's laughing now?  
Now he was over the mansion. There are the X-Men and winged camels playing softball. He wanted to go say hi to everyone. He landed on the ground with a soft thud and walked towards his old comrades.  
He waved a spiked hand, grinning more happily than he had ever grinned, and all returned his smile. He was home again. Home.... Auntie O.  
Here came his dear aunt, wearing her nightgown. How beautiful she looked. Yes. Very beautiful indeed.  
He ran towards his aunt with arms wide open, ready for a hug. But what he got was a gust of wind and dust in his face.  
It was no longer his aunt, but Pietro, standing there cackling. How he wanted to bash in Stick-Boy's smug face. Oh, the satisfaction of beating Quicksilver. Now was the time. Now or never, Spyke. Now or never.  
Pietro made the first move. Within less than a second, he was in front of Evan. Their eyes met. Evan felt his warm breath against his lips.  
Pietro's eyes softened. Pietro didn't look the same. He looked...like he wanted something. What was it?  
"What's wrong with you, Pietro? You look...stranger, than usu-"  
But before he could finish his sentence, Pietro's lips were pressed against his. The sensation! His first kiss, even if it was just in a dream. It was over as quickly as it had come. No tongue. But there was a bit of spit swapping. Not much, but just enough to wet his lips.  
Pietro pulled away and looked Evan in the eye. Now they became cold and steely again. Everything that had happened earlier was behind them. They were enemies again. Still, that kiss. It felt so wrong, but yet so right.  
Evan was always brought up to be straight. He was supposed to be straight. He was abnormal enough being a mutant, but being a gay mutant, too?  
The world began to swirl around. Pietro left focus and the sewers came back into vision.-  
  
Evan opened his eyes to find everyone else awake and staring at him. He noticed that Stall seemed to be a bit ruffled and spooked. He wondered what had happened to his little sister.  
He noticed her lips. They looked oddly shiny.  
"Stall, what's wrong? And why is everyone looking at me like that?" He asked.  
Stall obviously didn't look like she wanted to answer. She trembled a little and scooted in closer to Callisto.  
Callisto bravely forced herself to ask a difficult question, "Evan, what were you dreaming about?"  
Evan paused and thought. He couldn't tell them what happened. He was straight. Completely straight.  
"Was it him, again?" Caliban asked.  
"Who? I-I don't know what you're talking about," Evan said firmly.  
"Well, whatever it was, you took it out of dream-land. You kissed Stall during the night," Callisto answered.  
Evan looked at Rebecca, who turned ran away down a tunnel. They all watched her leave, and then adverted their gaze to Spyke.  
Something tells me that this isn't a good thing..., Spyke said silently.  
  
Section 4:  
Pietro stomped off towards his room. He didn't feel like going fast. He was agitated and depressed at the same time. His heart was broken and his spirit, too. How could she have found out? He hid his clues perfectly. He did nothing to even make a person even THINK that he would be gay. At least, he thought he did.  
He reached his bedroom door and opened it. It looked like a perfectly normal room. Just like the one a straight guy would have. Not an ounce of purple, rainbows, or triangles anywhere. It was a very convincing mask. Inside, a dark secret was hidden, buried so deep in his mind that even Professor Xavier could have found it. Nobody was supposed to know. Not ever. He would never tell. Not even if he was tortured, they still wouldn't get it out of him. Then...how did she know?  
He flung himself onto his bed and sighed. He could here the loud sounds of the stereo blaring and glass breaking.  
They shouldn't have messed with Wanda, he told himself.  
He couldn't fully comprehend everything happening to him. His quick wit wasn't going to help him out here. He put his hands over his face and sighed into them. Why did things have to be this way? Why couldn't he just be straight? Why was it such a bad thing to be gay?  
He did try to like girls. He really did like girls, but not that way. They were friends. He couldn't bring himself to wrap his pale hands around their waists. He couldn't hold them close and whisper them things in their beautiful pierced ears. He couldn't kiss those lovely full lips. If he tried, he probably could do those things, but they wouldn't mean anything. At least, nothing important.  
He felt his eyes begin to droop. He yawned and looked at the clock. 9:30 pm. A little bit early, but what did it matter?  
Pietro soon afterwards fell asleep. Meanwhile, downstairs...  
  
Toad had given up trying to win a tango from Wanda and instead was trying to worm some details about her brother out of her. Wanda of course, knew nothing, but she wasn't about to let the boys know that. She liked to watch them get frustrated.  
"C'mon, Wanda! Tell us something! Anythin' Please!" Todd begged on his knees, at the mercy of the Scarlet Witch. Wanda loved this kind of cruel humor.  
"What makes you think I should tell you, Toad?" she inquired. "Truth be told, I know no more than you do." She quickly realized that she had said the wrong thing and clapped her hand to her mouth. Stupid, stupid! She scolded herself.  
"Dammit...."  
"You don't?" Toad looked up at her. "Heh. I knew it."  
"You did not!" she said resentfully.  
"So, you can't tell us anything on your bro?" Fred asked from the stereo. He turned it off so they could hear her confession.  
All stared at Wanda, waiting and listening carefully. This would be a first for them all; Wanda never admits to being wrong. Finally, the pressure gave in and she came clean.  
"So, no. I don't know why Pietro and Melissa broke up. He hasn't spoken a word of it too me."  
The boys grinned smugly, pleased with their handy work. But they couldn't help but wonder about Pietro. He was a great looking guy...so what girl would give him up?  
"Maybe he was cheatin' on 'er," Todd suggested. "Or maybe she wuz cheatin' on him."  
"Nuh-uh. Melissa wouldn't do that. Too wholesome," Lance said. "But Pietro mighta been doin' the cheatin'." That would make sense. Pietro had a rep of being a real player.  
"Pietro wouldn't cheat on her. You saw the way he looked at her. And the way everyone else did. Maybe it was another guy." Fred evoked.  
"Naw. You don't think it wuz...us, do ya?" Toad asked a little more concerned than he intended to sound.  
That was a real possibility. They were the reason that Lance and Pryde never worked out. They're bad rep and greasy slimeball look really put them in a disadvantage on the love line, in addition to being mutants.  
Toad answered his own question, "Naw. That ain't it. We ain't the reason." He added this last comment with a hint of uncertainty in his grungy city-punk voice.  
"I know," Fred said, attempting to lighten up the mood. "Maybe Melissa got clunked on the head a good one!"  
They chuckled lightly.  
"Or maybe Melissa is a lesbo!" Toad said. They boys roared with laughter. They knew he was only kidding. Melissa, a lesbian? Please...  
"Or maybe it's Pietro! Maybe he's gay!" Lance shouted between breaths.  
  
The message sunk in and all laughter ceased. They pondered this for a moment. What if that was true? What if he was gay?  
"You don't think-," Wanda began to say. She couldn't finish her sentence. It was too impossible to believe, but it could just as well be true. Pietro being gay would explain a lot.  
The silence that followed Wanda's half-finished comment was deafening. The Brotherhood exchanged uneasy glances.  
"Well, I'm going to bed. Night," Lance said as he went upstairs.  
The rest of the Brotherhood followed his lead. The boys went into their rooms, but Wanda entered her brother's very quietly. She leaned in her head and gazed upon the sleeping lump that was Pietro's body. How at ease and innocent he looked. He looked...straight.  
I'm being paranoid. Pietro is straight, silently reassuring herself. She closed the door and went into her room. 


	3. Chapter 3

Section 5:  
  
Evan got up and followed Stall down the tunnel.  
"Stall! Wait!" he shouted after her.  
He rose to his feet and ran after her. None of the other Morlocks attempted to stop him. He finally caught up with her and grabbed her in a forceful, yet gentle hug.  
"I'm sorry, Rebecca. You know that it was an accident," he said as soothingly as he could. He was out of breath from running so much.  
Stall sniffed but didn't try to squirm away from him. Instead, she dug in closer to him, his warmth and love enclosed around her tiny body.  
"I love you, big brother," she said, in the quietest voice. But Evan heard her small reply and smiled.  
"I love you, too."  
He picked her up and carried her to her over to the couch. There, he sat down and put Stall's head in his lap. All of the Morlocks had returned to their sleeping quarters, leaving them alone.  
Stall closed her eyes and appeared to have drifted off into dreamland, giving Evan some uninterrupted pondering time.  
What about that dream he had? Maybe it was a sign of things to come. He surely hoped not. He was straight. That's all there is to it...isn't there?  
"Am I straight?" he asked aloud, thinking that nobody could here him.  
A small voice sounded from his lap, "Are you?"  
Evan looked down at Stall. Her eyes were open, but relaxed.  
"You're supposed to be asleep," he remarked.  
"So are you," Rebecca replied.  
Evan was slightly taken aback. She had been around him for so long, Rebecca started to pick up some of his mannerisms.  
"What are you up for, Evan?" she asked.  
"No rea-," he began to say, but was stopped by Rebecca's stern look. He sighed and decided not to lie again. "Okay," he said. "It was that dream I just had."  
Evan explained the dream to her, not leaving out any details. She seemed particularly interested in the part about Pietro. She wanted to know his exact expressions, the exact way that he stood, what he wore, and especially about how he kissed.  
"Why do I need to explain how he kissed? You know first hand!"  
"Oh yeah...I almost forgot," she said with a smile.  
Rebecca sat up and snuggled in closer to Evan. She laid her little head against his shirtless chest. She inhaled his smell and let his comforting presence surround her. Evan settled his arms around those little shoulders. There they sat, a brother and sister.  
"So, what are you going to do about that dream of yours?" Stall asked, breaking the silence.  
"I don't know. What should I do?" Evan asked back, unable to answer the previous question.  
"Well," Rebecca began. "I think that you should take some action. It's obvious that you...well... I think that you may have some problems with, um, your...your that one word. It's really big and I can't remember exactly how to pronounce it. Sec-sectoality?" she tried.  
Evan knew perfectly well what word she was trying to say, but he didn't want it to be that word. He feared that word now, as crazy as that sounded. He feared that his sectoality was wrong. Before the dream, he would have thought, 'Hey. Not my problem. I am straight.' But know, he couldn't quite be sure.  
"The word is sexuality, Bec. And mine is normal."  
"Are you sure?"  
"...No..."  
"Then let's find out."  
"How?"  
"I think you should go out to the surface, like you used to. You can find a girlfriend and if you don't like her that way, then you must be gay!"  
"Hey! That's a great idea," he began sarcastically. "Then we an all go try out for a Broadway show, in the nude!"  
"Then, we can go over to the Institute and play Twister with Wolverine and the winged camels!"  
They both laughed, just like siblings would. Evan looked down at Rebecca and observed her laughing face. She seemed to glisten when she laughed, her radiance filling in all the corners of the room. Seeing her laugh made his insides warm, made him forget all of the worries he had.  
The laughter ceased and Stall brought back the previous question.  
"So, will you do it?"  
"Huh? Do what?" Evan asked.  
"Go to the surface and test to see if you're sex-u-al-ity is right or wrong," she said.  
"Err...I...I...I'll do it," Evan found himself saying.  
"Really! Great! Let's start tomorrow!" Rebecca said enthusiastically. She flung her tiny arms around Evan's sculpted figure and squeezed tightly.  
  
What did I just get myself into? he asked to his mind.  
  
Section 6:  
  
Wanda Maximoff turned in her sleep, dreaming an uncomfortable dream.  
"No...no...no...," she muttered in her sleep.  
  
(Dream-time!)  
  
-They were fighting the X-Men, and losing as usual. Blob, clobbered by Nightcrawler and Rogue. Lance, getting his skinny ass kicked by 105 pounds of brown-haired Valley Girl (Kitty, FYI). Pietro fighting Summers, losing horribly. Herself, matched up against Jean Grey.  
She faced Jean, her face full of determination to control. There was no way that she would lose to Miss Perfect.  
Wanda made the first move. She threw a slow simple hex blast, easy to dodge. Take the bait, take the bait, she thought.  
Jean leaped to the right, the hex nowhere near her. Perfect, Wanda thought.  
Jean attempted to lift Wanda into the air with her powers, but Wanda disabled them. Wanda threw another blast at Jean, hitting her full force.  
The redhead fell to the ground, moaning and twitching. Wanda walked up to her, raising her foot, ready to stomp hard. But, a sudden gasp from a familiar voice stopped her.  
She lowered her foot and turned around. Her brother's opponent had changed from Scott Summers...to Evan Daniels. The gasp belonged to Pietro, as Evan was drawing ever closer towards him, his spikes exposed.  
Wanda reacted by attempting to disable his powers. She must save her brother! She found her own powers were malfunctioning. She ran towards them...but they got further and further away, no matter how fast she went.  
"PIETRO!" she yelled. "Run, you dumbass! RUN PIETRO!"  
He didn't seem to here her. Quicksilver stood, rooted to the spot. Evan drew closer...a look of contempt on his spiked, bronze face. He lengthened his spikes and got closer.  
"PIETRO! Pietro! Please run," she sobbed. "Just go! Do SOMETHING!"  
Evan slowly took aim...and...fi-! Before he could release his spears, Quicksilver moved, but not intelligently. Unlike what anyone with some common sense would have done, Pietro dashed up closer to Evan. They were nose to nose. They felt each other's hot breath.  
Wanda could only watch in horror at what occurred next. Pietro's eyes softened. He moved towards Daniels's soft lips, and pressed his against them. Wanda stood in shock as Quicksilver slowly and intimately moved his pale hands to Evan's waist. Evan, in turn, wrapped his arms around Pietro's neck.  
The kiss turned from a peck to a flat out snog. Eww! Was that tongue she saw?  
"Pietro! Stop it! STOP! You're straight! Think of Melissa! Please, Pietro, don't do this!" she screamed and sobbed.  
As she fought to get towards them, and invisible vice-grip released her as she ran as fast as she could. No. It isn't true! It just isn't true! She told herself as they came closer.  
As she approached, the two completed their round of face-sucking. Their eyes became cold as they stared each other down. Evan pulled out a long spike and made a jab for her brother's heart and...the real world came back into focus.  
  
Wanda Maximoff awoke in a cold sweat from the worst nightmare of her life.  
"It isn't true," she said out loud to herself firmly. "Pietro is straight."  
"But is he?" a foreign voice sounded from the shadows.  
In the doorway stood the silhouette of a young figure with oddly shaped hands. It was...  
"Wanda. I need your help," said the voice of Stall, the young Morlock as she stepped into her room. 


End file.
